Entertainment

'The Awesomes' Debuts as Hulu's First Animated Original Series

"Superhero-ish." If the short tagline for The Awesomes — the inaugural animated Hulu original series that premiered Thursday — doesn't give you a sense of what to anticipate, then maybe co-creator and Saturday Night Live star Seth Meyers can help shed some light.

Like Zordon summoning the Power Rangers, Meyers and fellow creator Michael Shoemaker rounded up an all-star cast to give voice to the cartoon's characters, including Bill Hader, Kenan Thompson, Rashida Jones, Taran Killam and more comedians.

Produced by Broadway Video, the show will have 10 episodes. The two pilot episodes are available to watch now. Hulu describes The Awesomes' fictional history as such:

The Awesomes were founded in the 1940s by Mr. Awesome, the first and greatest superhero. He put together a team of the best and the brightest, and kept the team going for 70 years, always adding new members and training them to be part of “America’s Greatest Superhero Team.” Our story starts on the day Mr. Awesome announces his decision to retire.

The impetus for The Awesomes began before Hulu even launched in 2007.

"Every now and then you just have ideas that don't work in the sketch world, and one of those was the idea of a superhero show," Meyers added. "Most of the inspiration for this is the memory of what we liked in comic books. I was a huge fan of Batman and Green Lantern growing up."

Initially, Meyers wanted to remain behind the scenes and not voice any of the characters, admitting he doesn't like his own voice. Shoemaker coerced him, Meyers exclaimed, by holding his "feet to the flame."

Anticipate every character having huge flaws. For example, Gadget Gal isn't quite as adept with gadgets as her name would imply ("She doesn't have an iPad mini, she's got a fly swatter") and Impresario has massive mother issues ("He can make whatever he can imagine but he can only imagine his mother").

New episodes premiere weekly. For a deep dive into the show, visit TheAwesomes.com.

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